1969 European Holiday: „Sex i Strøget”
Jul. 10th, 2019 03:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ashetlandpony10 July 1969
As I mentioned before, I'm not really sure why Mother was so motivated to go shopping in Denmark. The country is not known as a fashion mecca, and although they do produce some nice ceramics, up to that point, Mom only owned a single Royal Copenhagen porcelain figurine, so it's not like she had an existing collection she wanted to grow.
Anyway, the main shopping area in Copenhagen– at least back in 1969– was a pedestrian street known as Strøget, and according to my diary, we visited it twice (though it might have been thrice). As you can tell by my expression in these pics, I am absolutely thrilled to be there.
The same location today.
I do have one amusing anecdote of Strøget, though. Mother knew I didn't particularly like going shopping with her, so when we were at places like Strøget, she might let me wander off on my own. When at liberty like this, I would typically go looking for antique stores (which often had coins), and bookshops. Either of those could keep me occupied for long periods of time.
Whilst exploring, a block or so off the main street, I found a corner bookshop. Cool! As I walked around, I soon noticed that the books in this place were unlike any I'd seen before. The paperbacks on the shelves all seemed to have the same generic covers, with no pictures on the front. There didn't seem to be any illustrations inside the books, either. How odd. In the center section of the store, though, were stacks of what we now call 'coffee table books'. At least these had pictures, so I started browsing the books there.
One caught my eye immediately. It appeared to be an oriental art book. Now, I don't read Danish, but I didn't have any trouble translating its title: „Sex i Japan”. Inside were page after page of extremely explicit antique woodblock prints depicting people engaged in sexual acts. (An art genre I now know is called shunga.) Most strikingly, the genitalia in these artworks were often drawn extremely exaggerated in size, and looked frankly grotesque to me. Geez! I wondered how the store could have such a book on open display like this, but reasoned this is Scandinavia, and even back then, this part of the world had a reputation for being libertine.
It was right about then that I was approached by a man who appeared to be the proprietor. He seemed rather upset about something. I couldn't understand a word he said, but as he kept berating me and pointing to the door, I got the message that he wanted me to leave, and right now. I didn't understand. I wasn't misbehaving. But despite my objections, and without any further hesitation, he physically escorted me out the door. I was pretty upset about being thrown out so rudely, so when I hooked back up with Mom, I told her about this mean old man kicking me out of his store for no reason.
Mom to the rescue! Indignant, she went right in and confronted the man. She seemed to calm down quickly, though, then the man showed her around the store. She came back out and, without saying a word, took me back to the main street. Then, she explained to me what a PORNOGRAPHIC BOOKSTORE was, and that a boy my age wasn't allowed in a place like that. Whoops! Then it dawned on me, I guess that's why there were no women in there– it was all men– and maybe that's why everybody was so hush-hush about things, too. I had no clue! Just goes to show how naive I still was at that age about sex!
As a footnote, off an on over the years since, I've tried to locate a copy of „Sex i Japan” for old times' sake, but no luck yet. If anyone who reads this ever finds it, please let me know! I'm old enough to buy it now, I promise! ;-)
As I mentioned before, I'm not really sure why Mother was so motivated to go shopping in Denmark. The country is not known as a fashion mecca, and although they do produce some nice ceramics, up to that point, Mom only owned a single Royal Copenhagen porcelain figurine, so it's not like she had an existing collection she wanted to grow.
Anyway, the main shopping area in Copenhagen– at least back in 1969– was a pedestrian street known as Strøget, and according to my diary, we visited it twice (though it might have been thrice). As you can tell by my expression in these pics, I am absolutely thrilled to be there.
The same location today.
I do have one amusing anecdote of Strøget, though. Mother knew I didn't particularly like going shopping with her, so when we were at places like Strøget, she might let me wander off on my own. When at liberty like this, I would typically go looking for antique stores (which often had coins), and bookshops. Either of those could keep me occupied for long periods of time.
Whilst exploring, a block or so off the main street, I found a corner bookshop. Cool! As I walked around, I soon noticed that the books in this place were unlike any I'd seen before. The paperbacks on the shelves all seemed to have the same generic covers, with no pictures on the front. There didn't seem to be any illustrations inside the books, either. How odd. In the center section of the store, though, were stacks of what we now call 'coffee table books'. At least these had pictures, so I started browsing the books there.
One caught my eye immediately. It appeared to be an oriental art book. Now, I don't read Danish, but I didn't have any trouble translating its title: „Sex i Japan”. Inside were page after page of extremely explicit antique woodblock prints depicting people engaged in sexual acts. (An art genre I now know is called shunga.) Most strikingly, the genitalia in these artworks were often drawn extremely exaggerated in size, and looked frankly grotesque to me. Geez! I wondered how the store could have such a book on open display like this, but reasoned this is Scandinavia, and even back then, this part of the world had a reputation for being libertine.
It was right about then that I was approached by a man who appeared to be the proprietor. He seemed rather upset about something. I couldn't understand a word he said, but as he kept berating me and pointing to the door, I got the message that he wanted me to leave, and right now. I didn't understand. I wasn't misbehaving. But despite my objections, and without any further hesitation, he physically escorted me out the door. I was pretty upset about being thrown out so rudely, so when I hooked back up with Mom, I told her about this mean old man kicking me out of his store for no reason.
Mom to the rescue! Indignant, she went right in and confronted the man. She seemed to calm down quickly, though, then the man showed her around the store. She came back out and, without saying a word, took me back to the main street. Then, she explained to me what a PORNOGRAPHIC BOOKSTORE was, and that a boy my age wasn't allowed in a place like that. Whoops! Then it dawned on me, I guess that's why there were no women in there– it was all men– and maybe that's why everybody was so hush-hush about things, too. I had no clue! Just goes to show how naive I still was at that age about sex!
As a footnote, off an on over the years since, I've tried to locate a copy of „Sex i Japan” for old times' sake, but no luck yet. If anyone who reads this ever finds it, please let me know! I'm old enough to buy it now, I promise! ;-)
